Medical done: Arsenal on the verge of announcing £17.5m first summer signing

From the opening of the transfer window, it looked as though Greek and Borrussia Dortmund centre-back Sokratis Papastathopoulos was destined to be an Arsenal player but it is now a matter of time before Arsenal officially confirms him as their signing, with reports by the Metro claiming that he’s undergone medical ahead of the proposed move.

The first port of call for the Gunners new manager Unai Emery is to bring back the glory days for the club but he will not be able to do so with a shambolic defense, as the one we saw last season – the Spanish born tactician is looking to reinforce his defense and Arsenal have been linked with the signing of Papastathopoulos.

The 29-year-old defender will enter the final year of his contract with Dortmund next month and he has refused to cross the Is and dot the Ts in a deal with the German club. The Gunners have taken advantage of his situation with the Bundesliga outfit and they on the verge of landing him in a €20 million (£17.5m) deal.

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The Metro cited a report from Sky Germany that the defender had a medical with Arsenal today and the Sven Mislintat earned plaudit for brokering the deal.

Arsenal will be without Laurent Kosclieny for the first half of next season and Per Mertesacker has called time on his footballing career, leaving the North London club with no choice that to seek defensive reinforcements.

Papastathopoulos is not the only player on the radar of Arsenal, Benjamin Pavard, Çağlar Söyüncü and Jonny Evans are among the players on the radar of the Gunners.